On 28 October 2022, H.E. Mr. Tana Weskosith, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to the French Republic welcomed Mr. Pierre Jaffre, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General, Eastern Economic Corridor Office of Thailand at the Royal Thai Embassy in Paris.

During the meeting, the Ambassador and Mr. Jaffre agreed that the upcoming visit of H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, to Thailand as a guest of the Chair for the 29^th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, to be hosted by the Royal Thai Government in Bangkok between 16-18 November 2022 will help strengthen and expand their economic cooperation. The visit will draw attention of French entrepreneurs to Thailand’s potential and opportunities on trade and investment. It would also reflect that the current French government attaches great importance to its Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Mr. Jaffre stated that the EEC is currently aiming at attracting around 20 conglomerate French businesses to invest in the EEC in the targeted industries such as aerospace, including creating business partnerships with leading French IT companies to exchange and utilize information gathered by Thailand Earth Observation Satellite (THEOS), medical and wellness services, agricultural and biotechnology and processed food. Thailand should also work towards becoming an aviation and logistics hub for air services that provides smart logistics solutions.

Consequently, the Ambassador informed Mr. Jaffre that the National Innovation Agency of Thailand (NIA), with the support of the Royal Thai Embassy in Paris, will organize “Innovation Startups Week 2023” in Paris on 24-28 April 2023. Therefore, Mr. Jaffre expressed his readiness to introduce some French startups for networking with their Thai counterparts through participating in the said event. This activity corresponds to Thailand’s commitment to push forward concrete bilateral cooperation under the Roadmap for Thai-French Relations (2022-2024).